I love getting ready for stuff.
It’s partly about anticipation, but more about process – the active engagement with a thing in emergence, with plans and stages, learning and research, pieces coming together and that moment when the big picture suddenly snaps into focus. The breathless flurry of the end-game, the basking in delight of the thing accomplished, that quiet moment, and then, just before quiet becomes boredom – what’s next?
What’s next is Thanksgiving. Because I really only go grocery shopping every other weekend, real prep work began yesterday. I started a while ago, collecting recipes and restocking my autumn pantry with smoky spices, winter squashes, frozen turkeys, and other signs of the season. But with this weekend’s shopping, active planning kicks into high gear.
This year, I’m doing a “tilted traditional” feast, something I’ve wanted to do for years – all of the traditional trappings but with trendy new recipes, fusion flavors, local-regional highlights. Ten years ago I would not have had the skills to carry this off, but now I think I’m cook enough to rise to the challenge. It’s exciting.
Hors’d'ouevres
Fall Bruschetta
Spanakopita
Baked Brie with Ginger-Lime Spiced Cranberry Sauce
Pumpkin pie truffles
Hibiscus-pomegranate Italian soda and blackberry mead
Table
Wine-smoked Turkey
Michael Symon’s Cornbread Stuffing
Chile-glazed Sweet Potatoes
Fingerling Potatoes (from my garden!) with Smoked Paprika
Broccoli with Garlic and Lemon
Cheddar-Thyme Gougieres and Apricot-Pecan-Blue Cheese Boule
Green Chile Relish and Onion-Mushroom Balsamic Relish
Extra Ginger-Lime Spiced Cranberry Sauce for table
First Blush and Black Swan shiraz
Dessert
Baked Apple Dumplings
Dark-Chocolate-Studded Pumpkin Pie
Gingerbread Flan
Port, brandy, and coffee
the last gasp of my garden – fingerling potatoes, golden beets and roots,
and chard, harvested the morning after the first frost.